ATHENS, Ga. -- Georgia basketball capped an impressive recruiting haul for the Class of 2019 on Wednesday with the addition of three-star center Rodney Howard out of Greenville, South Carolina’s Legacy Charter. He chose the Bulldogs over Georgia Tech.
“It was overall a hard decision. There was a lot of great universities, a lot of great coaching staffs, but Georgia started our relationship before I committed to Ole Miss, and that's how our relationship started,” Howard said. “With Georgia Tech, the relationship was the same thing. They decided to get in the mix before I decided to commit to Ole Miss. You know, it was a hard decision to narrow it down to just two in such a short window. Once I took those two visits, I was like ‘I can't take it anymore.’ It's hard to make decisions this quick. You gotta be fast.”
For the 6-foot-11-inch, 240-pound prospect, Tom Crean’s history was a defining factor in the choice.
“With Georgia, Coach Crean was known for developing players. I had a lot of scholarship offers, but his history is with people that barely had scholarship offers or weren’t all the way put together,” Howard said. “He's known for just putting them together and putting them into the league. When I first met Coach Crean, I want to say it was in April. I think he came to one of my workouts. I didn't know Coach Crean was like a good choice, but he came to my workout with a notepad, writing down things I need to work on or something like that. When I first met him he was like an energy guy. He doesn't talk without a lot of energy, and that's a good thing.”
Crean’s feedback from that session and a clear plan for Howard also aided Georgia’s cause.
“You know, I just trust him a lot to develop me. When I came on campus, he was breaking down my film. He was showing me good plays, and he was showing me plays where he could tell what I need to work on. He told me he was gonna attack my lower body and get me right in my core, legs, everything,” Howard said. “He said we needed to move quicker, so he was like getting up and showing me like what he was talking about. That was pretty neat.I asked him how he sees me fitting in, and once he builds me into a play, he wants me doing a lot of things in the offense.”
The additional pieces headed to Athens in the Class of 2019 were also a motivator, as Howard believes the program is ready to make a step forward.
“It didn't factor in a whole lot, but it was just like, they are bringing in the good vibes. You know, that's something you wanna be a part of. It played a little bit of a role,” he said. “They're bringing a lot of great players. Next year's gonna be really interesting to see how everything plays out. I feel like we're gonna be able to compete with a lot of teams this year, versus the team they had last year.”
In the end, Howard says he had to lean on intuition and those closest to him.
“It was such a hard decision. I just had to go with my gut feeling, who had my best interest,” he said. “They both did, but it was a really hard decision. Me and my mom prayed on it a lot, too. Something just told me to go ahead and commit to Georgia. It's gonna be a good year.”
